Marja, yes, the edges are just squared off. A flat piece on the surface, a "ribbon" of formica on the vertical side--separately glued to the base. After a lot of cleaning, I notice a light line at the corners. Occasionally I run a Sharpie marker across the edge to make it blend. The light fixture is an older one from Lowe's, maybe 10 years old. The cabinets are Charlottesville from Home Depot, very reasonable. Glad you like it, it works for me and didn't cost a gazillion dollars.

We considered (and got samples) of both the red (VERY expensive!) and green slate from Vermont. I would have loved to have felt comfortable with slate, but the scratching (from anything, wine bottle to mug, moved across it) in the sample made me conclude I would NOT like a maze of scratches like that in a countertop. You can remove the "whiteness" of the scratch but you still have a scratch you can see in some lighting. I would suggest testing LOTS of samples and giving them regular, everyday use as a test. I WISH we had found one that would hold up to everyday use ... but we didn't.

Just like there used to be for soapstone, there's a lot of misinformation about slate, some of it in this thread. Slate quarried in NY and New England is extremely durable for countertops. It's amazingly strong, as a large overhang for seating does not need support! I saw this for myself at the Sheldon Slate Co's showroom, in upstate NY. The owner's son, a large guy, jumped up onto the unsupported overhang to prove the point. I brought home samples of all the available colors, which come in a book, and also has a ton of information. I tested the samples for days on end...putting acidy, oily, and condiments of all kinds on the stones. I threw keys and knives on them, and dragged mugs and plates across. Staining-wise, all stones came out unscathed, except for the black. As one article stated, black slate is porous. As for the other colors, they were stain AND etch free. A couple of times I thought I saw some discoloration, so I wiped mineral oil over the stone, like you would for soapstone. And, ta da, when the oil dissipated, the stone was perfect! As for scratching, the keying and dragging did leave minor scratches, which just like with soapstone, disappeared with a wipe of mineral oil. The surface of a slate counter is honed smooth, and again, like soap- stone, is almost sensuous to touch. I could not stop petting the stones. To get the most accurate information, I suggest you make an appoint- ment at Sheldon Slate, and take the long drive there. It's a family-run company, and you will get a most attentive, extensive tour of the place. The NY location is pretty much at the Vermont border. There is also an office in Maine. Sorry for the long post, buy the misinformation was bugging me. Hth. Here is a link that might be useful: Sheldon Slate

You'll pay a sight more than $15 a foot to have a stone professional who actually knows what he is doing do your install. It's not "just" putting the slabs on the cabinets and epoxying the seams. That's not a "just". That's everything. (Secondary to a good template and a level cabinet install.) With as many conniption fits as have been posted on here about bad seams, you want to hire some unknown person do that for you? :) No reputable shop will do it without increasing their regular fee to account for the fact that they have no idea if the stone is sound and level, and if the cabinets are sound and level. That's two very important checks that a local fabricator does for you when he templates and fabricates stone. I'm not saying it's not DIYable. In fact, that's the only situation where you will save enough money to make the risk worth taking. If you have enough experience with woodworking tools to order the slabs and fabricate them yourself, you can save a good amount of money. Plus have the satisfaction of the DIY job. Ordering them fabricated can even save a small amount of money if you don't have a good local source for soap. But, ordering them fabricated and then trying to pay someone to take the risk of installing them themselves? That's going to be more expensive than going local would be, that's for sure. Talk to your local wholesale stoneyard about importing from MT themselves. If they buy a bundle of slabs, their pricing will already factor in the shipping, and you can use a local stone professional whose feet you can hold to the fire if he messes it up. The biggest thing they have to know is to not over polish it and have both black and white epoxy on hand to deal with the vein flow in the seams. Other than that, it's pretty easy to deal with to work. The big thing for you as a buyer to know is that you won't get "perfect" flow seams like is possible with granite unless you buy a whole lot of bookmatched slabs and have overage. Most of the slabs are too small for that.